


Meta Gets Shadowed

by ChingKittyCat



Category: Hoshi no Kaabii | Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby (Video Games), Kirby - All Media Types
Genre: 4Kids Dub, Canon-Typical Violence, Comedy, Demons, Enemies, Established Relationship, Gen, Slice of Life, So It Just Goes Where The Wind Takes It, This Is One Of The Few Fics I'm Doing No Planning For
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2019-08-22 20:49:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16605206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChingKittyCat/pseuds/ChingKittyCat
Summary: Meta Knight's shadow, sometimes, moves on its own if you look at it without it knowing. Though it could just be the eyes playing tricks, sometimes it even looks like his shadow is smiling or has some sort of weird claws. Or, even, the shadow isn't Meta Knight at all, but someone else.Someone who's cranky about being stuck in someone else's shadow, despite very adamantly saying they're not stuck.-[Fic Art]





	1. Uh Oh

   It was not uncommon for Meta Knight to sleep by the Fountain of Dreams. It's mystical, intoxicating aura of sleep alone was enough to encourage him to take a nap or two whilst within its boundaries. The shimmering water he'd never touch, but he absolutely bathed in the light of the Star Rod and the stars above.

   Sleeping near to this fountain was a freeing experience. Not only because it managed to strike down his insomnia, but also because it locked something out of his slumbering mind and brought him truly peaceful dreams. He couldn't sleep there all the time, he recognized he had things to do and people to see to in Cappytown or around Dreamland with the constant threats of cosmic entities. 

   But even with his busy schedule, he managed. Though he had noticed he'd put off certain tasks until later specifically so he could go to this fountain, and he had noticed his increasing use of its services. He wouldn't call it an addiction, he called it a liberal use. Vul called it an addiction, but Meta had multiple reasons to take his opinion with mounds of salt.

   Meta'd just settled in for another night of sleeping beside the glistening waters, and sat relaxed upon a lawnchair covered by a towel. His cape had helped provide more comfort, but he was really regretting not bringing a pillow. His eyes drifted to the sky and stayed there, focused on the twinkling purple stars and permanently crescent moon.

   A sigh came through him and landed on the insides of his mask as he allowed himself to drift along with the sounds of running, magical water.

   Then a loud, cacophonous chuckle snapped him out of his daze and he shot to his feet, drawing his sword instantly. The chuckle was very distinctly pitched, an immistakable one. His eyes stayed a solid yellow as he looked about the fray of the fountain for its source.

   "Show yourself, eNeMeE."

   Meta Knight demanded, only earning another chuckle from the hidden sorcerer. He sounded so close that he was basically right infront of him.. Or perhaps, right beside him, or behind him. It made the orb's skin prickle and his mind stand even sharper in sudden alarm. eNeMeE was no master of stealth, he announced his presence as soon as possible, like he'd done just now. How he'd gotten so close without Meta noticing was extraordinarily out of character.

   "Meta Knight, you're so paranoid!"

   The other talked to him like a teenage schoolgirl would to her friends. A playful coo. But this was no teenager, and Meta Knight knew full well of this man's deadly capabilities. 

   "What're you doing out here? Why are you out here of all places?" eNeMeE wondered out loud, and Meta Knight could hear his grin.

   Meta Knight was looking everywhere for this guy. Up, down, all around. He could only conclude he'd gone invisible, or perhaps was using some sort of magic to transfer his voice to him.

   "I'm out here to get away from you."

   eNeMeE gasped melodramatically at the blunt statement, and if Meta could see him right now, he'd probably be putting on a face as well.

   "Meta Knight! How could you! That's very rude, missing out on me giving you traumatic night terrors on purpose!"

   The wizard's tone is laced with extreme sarcasm and theatrics, he knew he was putting on a joke, and Meta was more than happy to feed into that joke. It allowed him to freely insult this guy all while part of some 'play'.

   "Call me a jerk, then, because I plan to miss it tonight as well. Where are you."

   Another gasp from eNeMeE, even more pretend shocked than the last.

   "Where's our enemy-" He paused because he didn't know what to put after 'enemy' to imply relationship, "ship going, Meta Knight?? You miss out on all the bad dreams and now you can't even see me when I'm right infront of you!? I think we're growing distant, Meta, it's like we're strangers again!"

   "Oh, if only."

   "Meta Kniiiight!" eNeMeE sounded closer now, which freaked the knight out more because that whine sounded right in his ear. Not only that, but it wasn't very loud, it was more of a personal whisper that made the borb's skin crawl and nonexistent spine chill.

   Swooshing around and around with Galaxia out, slicing at nothing but thin air, it wasn't helping very much. It just made this terrible man cackle even more at Meta's plight. His eyes turning green behind his mask, he tried to figure out what exactly was going on here.

   eNeMeE showed himself capable of fading away, it was possible, perhaps, that he could be invisible. Though, if that were the case he would've felt wind around him as eNeMeE moved around. Illusions could fool the eyes and maybe the ears, but they could not fool touch, Meta Knight had learned.

   "We really do need to reconnect like this more often, I'm just loving this."

   "I'm glad you're having just a fantastic time," Meta Knight's eyes kept their green as he tried to calm himself down and recollect. He needed to think, and talking with buttchin mcmoron was not helping.

   "I am! It's great, it's fun!" 

   eNeMeE giggled like a kid. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that Meta knew better, he would've been completely justified in assuming that the wizard was actually a kid. Yes, he knew far better. A wars-worth of reasons to know this man's personality was entirely new and hadn't been born of jovial innocence.

   "If you showed yourself I bet you'd have more fun."

   It was honestly uncharacteristic for him to keep himself concealed for so long. eNeMeE's an attention hog, he loved being out, about, and grand. This was far from grand, and far from being out and about.

   "Look down."

   He'd suggested. Meta did. Grass.

   "No, no, y-" eNeMeE huffed, "the other way. Look down over here."

   "I can't tell where you are when you say here, because you're in both of my ears at once."

   "Down. Here." The wizard insisted.

   Meta Knight circled around, looking until he faced his shadow. Which, well, didn't match his stance at all. Not to mention that there was one thing on it; a smile. Like.. It was as if Meta Knight had a hole straight through his body that depicted a smile, so there was no shadow there.

   "Neat, rig-" 

   Meta Knight stabbed at his shadow with Galaxia. Multiple times. He hit nothing but dirt, kicking up grass. The wizard in his shadow paused and then laughed at Meta's feeble attempts to harm him.

   "Man, you're really letting that grass have it, aren't you?"

   eNeMeE sneered as another stab went straight into the dirt, ripping out chunks of the earth rather than chunks of wizard. Meta Knight's eyes kept at solid green before turning to yellow.

   "Get out of there."

   Meta Knight commanded, and his shadow shifted, shaking like it was scared.

   "Oh, I'm so scared," eNeMeE mocked, "what're you going to do? You can't hurt me. Galaxia does nothing."

   Meta Knight sighed. He looked at the Star Rod briefly, considering it, then turned against it. It would do nothing, in the long run. Just give him solace for a week then eNeMeE would turn back up. And he'd probably actually be angry.

   "I'll go to sleep in my normal bed if you do."

   Meta offered. eNeMeE let out a hellish squeal, telling of his like of the idea.

   "Yes! Okay, yeah, lets go with that. I'll-"

   "One more thing before you go."

   Meta Knight's interruption made his shadow twitch, like he was shocked. Well, it wasn't often that Meta Knight was the one driving the conversation, much less interrupting the wizard's leave.

   "Are you doing this from the Dream Realm, or did you get summoned back into the real world?"

   His shadow simply smiled at his question, and Meta Knight just listened for any tells of lies. He could read the other man like a book, but that just came with being in contact with him for so long.

   "Wouldn't you like to know?" eNeMeE scoffed.

   "Yes, I would like to know."

   eNeMeE's pause after the insistence already told Meta that he actually had to think about his answer. Pauses were an indicator for anyone, but for this wizard they were a red flag for lies.

   "Well. I. I'm in the uh, the Dream Realm, obviously, duh. Like. Yeah." 

   The tone was like when an actor was playing a character who's 'very obviously super lying and the audience has to very clearly tell they're lying'. The fact that eNeMeE was concealing him being alive in the first place, Meta found interesting. Maybe he was developing some sense, considering how if Meta found out that he was alive, he'd grab Kirby and try to hunt him down until he was dead again.

   "I see."

   Was all Meta's response.

   Then there was an awkward silence.

   "..Are you leaving?" 

   Meta broke it, which seemed to come as a surprise. eNeMeE coughed a bit.

   "That's all?"

   "Yes."

   "Like, conversation's done?"

   "Yes."

   "..That's it, like, all of it?"

   "Yes. Leave."

   "Alright, I'll leave. See you in your dreams. Or, well, your nightmares. Because I'll be there."

   "Mhm."

   Silence. Meta Knight can still tell that eNeMeE's in his shadow because of its slight movements not being similar to his. He just kept watching, and after a good ten or so seconds, spoke up again.

   "..Go."

   He inisted, waving his sword slightly like he was trying to shoo off a dog.

   "I'm going, I'm going! Give me a second!" eNeMeE spat back.

   "I gave you ten."

   "I need more than ten, magically zapping myself into your shadow isn't something I do all the time."

   More silence. More seconds passed. Meta Knight's eyes slowly faded a soft red the longer eNeMeE stuck around. He was getting tired of this, he could still tell he was there and he wasn't having any of it.

   "Uh oh."

   eNeMeE sounded like he was trying to whisper that to himself. Meta Knight could tell this because it sounded like an actually sincere 'oh no' rather than some sarcastic hyperdramatacized reaction to his temper being flared. Because of the way this magic seemingly worked, this small statement of something being wrong was right in Meta's ears, all there for him to hear.

   "'Uh oh' what."

   Meta immediately picked up on it, and eNeMeE seemed surprised to hear that Meta Knight, well, had heard him.

   "Uh, 'uh oh' nothing. Nope. Just saying that because oh no, you're getting mad I'm not gone yet, y'know, because. Sarcasm. Yeah. That."

   "You are a terrible liar."

   "I am not! I'm a great liar!" eNeMeE lied.

   Meta Knight huffed, letting more red bring itself to his eyes. He just glowered more at his shadow, more and more. His annoyance cranked, his opinion on the Star Rod began to sway.

   "Get out. Now. Last time I'm saying politely."

   Meta side-eyed the fountain, and eNeMeE must've caught onto what he meant basically immediately.

   "I'm going! I'm going, okay?? No need to get your cape in a twist, I'm leaving. I'm leaving right now. Look, I'm leaving. I'm going."

   The mouth of his shadow shut, returning it back to normal. But Meta Knight didn't trust this guy. No, not at all. So he tried moving his arm very quickly. His shadow did not catch up. At all. 

   "That's it."

   Meta Knight turned towards the fountain, sheathed Galaxia, braced himself, then leapt over the large pond of pure liquefied dreams directly to the structure itself. 

   "Hey, hey, no, Meta Knight! I'm leaving right now!"

   eNeMeE's promises fell on deaf ears. He plucked the Star Rod from the top of the fountain with ease, watching as the waters stopped flowing. Nothing bad happened, really, just that the water looked a bit duller. 

   With a leap back to shore, he turned until he was face to face with his shadow, and stuck the rod directly at it. Meta personally had his doubts about this tactic working, but honestly, better to try and learn to never know in the first place.

   "No! No!" 

   The shadow strained as to get away from the person it belonged to with little success. He'd snap back into place before too long; right infront of the Star Rod. But he kept trying, and trying, and trying to move away. Meta was unmoving, just watching.

   Honestly, Meta wasn't completely unsure why eNeMeE wasn't leaving. He had an inkling of an idea, really, but otherwise he just thought the guy was just being a jerk and not leaving on purpose.

   "Can we talk about this? Lets talk about this. Like, talk about this and you can get the Star Rod away from me. Sound good? I think that sounds good, we should do that. Yeah, lets-" eNeMeE paused as Meta began to lower the Star Rod down to him, "lets, talk. Talk about this. Meta. What do you want me to give you to not do this?"

   "For you to leave me alone."

   Meta knew that if eNeMeE was posed a threat like this, he'd fight. But this wasn't exactly a typical situation. He thought the wizard would remove himself the moment that Meta leapt to get the Kirby-made weapon, but he was proven wrong.

   His eyes turned green.

   "Look, well, I. How about. Meta, listen to me, put that thing back where it came from. I just need to do a couple of things before I can-"

   Meta Knight sunk the Star Rod into the ground. A distinctive burning noise fizzed in the air and eNeMeE gasped in pain. The shadow wiggled and tried to remove itself from the weapon Meta was using. Again, to little avail. While Meta felt like he was doing something ethically wrong, it was to someone who'd harmed hundreds of trillions of people over hundreds of thousands of years. He deserved getting what's coming to him.

   Meta Knight unstabbed the ground, and he could hear eNeMeE's soft, remaining hisses of pain in his ears. He waited until the hissing had calmed and become more quiet, it gave him more time to think.

   "Oh my goodness."

   Meta Knight made a 'snrk' noise.

   "What? What's so funny?" eNeMeE questioned, sounding only slightly offended that his pain was being laughed at.

   "You're stuck."

   The statement was humored, and Meta Knight's eyes faded from green to yellow at it. eNeMeE growled basically immediately at the revelation, defensive of his 'I am completely stuck, yeah' position.

   "I am not stuck!" The wizard snapped, the shadow going from having a smile to a deep frown. If he was going for anger, it made it look more like he was sad than anything. Lack of eyes to emote with, probably. 

   "Again, you are a very bad liar, eNeMeE."

   Meta Knight did enjoy the situation for its ridiculousness. eNeMeE was a war tyrant, emperor of darkness. Yet he, when he became a shadow, couldn't manage to get himself out of it for whatever reason. Well, considering the massive string of death-related failures the ex-capitalist universal overlord had recently, this new addition isn't much of a surprise. But it is a novel one indeed.

   "Give me a minute! I'm leaving!"

   eNeMeE huffed, and after a little bit of thought, Meta Knight went to return the Star Rod to the fountain rather than continue on the path he'd briefly ventured down.

 

* * *

 

   Meta tolerated this more than anything. Yes, he hated this evil wizard who'd ruthlessly slaughtered his family, friends, and acquaintances. Endlessly, there was nothing but hate. Even in this situation, it was just as easy for Meta to say that he hated the other man, despite having spared him from the wrath of the Star Rod. 

   See, Meta wasn't an idiot. He knew two times over that it only took a week before eNeMeE was alive again, in some way. Then it was only a matter of time before some idiot summoned him into the real world with an actual physical form rather than one stuck in dreams. Then he'd go around, cause havoc, and if he was smart about it he wouldn't tell Meta.

   This event, this accident, more like, allowed Meta to know that not only was eNeMeE back in the real world, but he had new powers. Meta had never experienced this shadow power before, and he most likely would've at least heard it mentioned from the sorcerer in all the boisterous talks about himself. He never did ever shut up about what abilities he had, so Meta had a wealth of knowledge on basically all of them.

   And telling from the amateurish use of this new ability, eNeMeE had little to no knowledge on this new ability he had. Also the fact that he literally admitted to it helped solidify that. 

   "Ugh."

   eNeMeE huffed as Meta thought to himself, walking back from the fountain with an unwilling guest in tow.

   "You shouldn't be humming and hawing, eNeMeE."

   To Meta's statement, eNeMeE groaned loudly to spite him.

   "Why not? Maybe humming and hawing is my new hobby."

   "Because it implies you're annoyed because you're stuck."

   "First off," eNeMeE prefaced, his shadow trying to morph into the wizard's actual form before snapping back to Meta's, "I'm not. Not stuck. Second off, I.. Okay, I don't have a second point."

   "I could've just stayed at the fountain and kept the Star Rod on you, if you'd like that instead."

   Meta said it as a legitimate offer, and eNeMeE's response was essentially instant.

   "No." It sounded like a child giving up buying chips at the grocery store; a pout on the face and lined with frustration in the voice.

   "Mhm." 

   Meta replied, continuing his trek back to the castle owned by Dedede. He could stay at the fountain, yes, but now that he had this wizard with him, he had more pressing matters to try to accomplish. 

   "..Where are we going and why?"

   The wizard questioned, slightly cautious sounding but still curious.

   "Since you're trapped in my shadow-"

   "I'm not!"

   "-I'm going back to the castle so that way I can better deal with you there. As to why, I can't stay at the fountain forever, and if I kill you, that'd free you to do whatever you please."

   Meta Knight couldn't see it because his shadow was behind him, but it really warbled and strained to try and rip itself from him. 

   "You're just going to keep me prisoner?"

   "I thought you said you weren't stuck, eNeMeE."

   "Which I'm not!"

   eNeMeE growled then out loud-groaned. Loudly. Very loudly that he'd just got so outplayed, so easily, so expertly. 

   "Yes, I plan to keep you prisoner for as long as possible."

   Meta nodded. Previous attempts to keep eNeMeE restricted went faulty, he was an ungodly powerful force with only one weakness. But, this time, the restriction and capture was of the brainless sorcerer's own doing.

   "So now you want to spend time with me? What about earlier? Meta Knight, we need some consistency in this relationship. You're about as consistent as.. Uh. Something very inconsistent."

   Meta Knight's hand roused beneath his folded cape, gripping slightly tighter and the fabric.

   "I see an opportunity to keep you from the rest of the galaxy, and keep you from spreading fear, and I will take it. Regardless of its consequence on me."

   "How selfish! You just want keep me to yourself. You need to learn how to share me, Meta Knight, other people need their bad dreams too."

   Meta Knight scoffed at eNeMeE's continued push of the false relationship, which made the sorcerer laugh slightly in return. 

   "From how often you focus on me you can't blame me for being spoiled."

   Meta snarked back as calmly as possible. The more he amused eNeMeE in this little game of his, the less the sorcerer would think, and the more planning Meta could do. He didn't want eNeMeE attached to his shadow for the rest of eternity, after all. He'd have to do.. Something to remove him, but keep him in this form he couldn't get out of.

   Then Meta'd just shove him somewhere no one could find him, and that'd be the end of that. No more eNeMeE until he starved, so maybe Meta'd get like.. A couple months worth of break. That is, of course, depending on if the wizard could still go into dreams in this form.

   "Well, this should be a fun time. If you keep that attitude up."

   eNeMeE said it like it was a challenge.

   "I will."

   One he accepted.

  
  
  
  



	2. Festival PT 1

   Meta Knight's long road ended at Cappy Town, overlooking it from a hill near to the forest. It was next to the long, winding road that lead up to his majesty's castle, but not too far up. It allowed a decent view down at the town, bustling with the ant-like Cappies who were finishing setting up for the night ahead. He took a long look over the town, solemn.

   "..What are you doing? Go somewhere."

   eNeMeE commanded, shadow wiggling in the space next to him to show a silhouette of the wizard that'd been trapped in it. Meta Knight was quiet for a moment more.

   "I think, perhaps, I will go to the festival this year. I don't like to be with the Cappys, but I feel like my reason for going now is.." Meta Knight made a side-eye to the shadow stretched beside him, "Apparent."

   "What."

   "Every year, on one day, the Cappys hold a certain celebration. There are games, there is food, everyone is quite happy. I've never gone before, though I've meant to."

   "And why exactly are you telling me this."

   eNeMeE probably was pouting, but Meta Knight couldn't tell because his mouth was completely shut, no smile or frown was apparent. Meta turned away from the town, heading to the path that connected to the castle.

   "I find it somewhat interesting that you decided to get stuck in my shadow today of all days." 

   "Listen, rotten blueberry, you're giving me a lot of vague things that don't tell me much of anything and I don't much appreciate it. I know being mysterious is your thing, but I know your entire life story, so like. Just tell me."

   "If you know my entire life story, you should know why I find it interesting."

   eNeMeE sputtered at the notion slightly. 

   "You can't expect me to remember everything, you're not that important. I need to remember some of my own personal things, like all my plans to kill you and take over the universe again. I have to plot, like, my revenge plans in here too," eNeMeE gestured to his head with his shadowy claws, "so it's not always you. You're so selfish."

   "Again, you focus on me so often, you can't blame me for thinking you spend all your time thinking about me."

   "Whether I do or don't isn't important, just tell me what you're talking about."

   "What?" Meta Knight questioned, his tone teasingly sarcastic.

   "About the- why you find it interesting I'm here!"

   "Oh, yes," Meta Knight pretended to be corrected, "today is the day Kirby killed you for the first time and destroyed your company. The festival celebrates that."

   Meta Knight expected an immediate sass back, but instead he'd received nothing. Not that it was much of a problem, but the awkward silence stretched on far beyond what Meta Knight had considered comfortable. One second ticked into three, then five, then ten.

   Meta Knight did not stop walking as he waited for a response.

   "Well, I'm very glad that you and everyone else know I'm that important," eNeMeE finally said, "but if you're selling anything in my likeness I'll let you know you can't do that. My face is trademarked, copyrighted, all rights reserved, all those other things and you can't sell merch of me without my company's consent and also giving me royalties."

   "No one is selling merchandise of you, eNeMeE."

   "Oh."

   The wizard, somewhat dissapointed, conceded. Then, after a moment, he sparked up again, suddenly realizing something he apparently hadn't before.

   "If the festival isn't about me then what is it about!? There's nothing more important than me, and you literally said the festival is about me! How can you have a festival about me without merch of me!?"

   eNeMeE didn't sound furious, moreso aggressively confused.

   "The festival isn't about you." Meta Knight answered simply.

   "You literally just said that it was! You said," eNeMeE adopted a bad spanish accent "'ouughhh the festival is about you', that's what you said."

   "I don't say 'ouughhh'."

   "You sound like the sort of person who does! You're just being a nitwit. Tell me what this is about."

   "You may see with your own sunglasses once I attend or if I decide to tell you later."

   Meta Knight's continued brisk pace was uninterrupted as eNeMeE's shadow swirled around to appear infront of him. He walked on it as they met face to face. Or, well, face to shadow.

   "Nuh-uh," the wizard refused, "you're telling me and you're telling me now."

   "There is nothing you can do to make me, eNeMeE."

   "Yes I can!"

   "Such as?"

   The wizard spoke out in half-words before ultimately making a 'hmm' noise, taking on the mantle of looking like he was deep in thought. It was more than apparent to Meta Knight that the other knew this new form of his was incapable of damaging Meta Knight in any decent capacity. Where he got that info was the part he wanted to know.

   How the other obtained this power, this knowledge.. Yes, both of those things piqued his curiosity.

   "Anyways," Meta Knight spoke up once again, knocking the other out of his pondering, "I would not suggest talking while in the castle. I am unsure if I am the only one who can hear you. If you were to be heard by certain parties, I can assure you they'd drag me back to the fountain and hold the Star Rod on you for much longer than I did. The same goes for the festival."

   "I'm not afraid of anything, much less your friends."

   "But you are afraid of the Star Rod."

   "You're just projecting your own fears onto me, Meta."

   eNeMeE scoffed, Meta Knight slightly amused by the pure idiocy on display.

   "Whatever helps you sleep at night, eNeMeE."

   The walk after that was brief and quiet enough, though there was one issue. The castle's drawbridge was up. Meta scanned along the castle wall, down to the moat below. After that, he walked along the edge of the moat.

   "Just fly over." eNeMeE chimed, refusing to shut up.

   "I would prefer not to."

   "You're just being stubborn for no reason other than it's me saying it. If someone else were suggesting it, you'd probably listen to them."

   Meta decided to leave the wizard in his own silence after that. 

   The walk down the side of the moat was relatively peaceful, and honestly.. He was rather grateful that he had an excuse to not use the main entrance. As much as he'd totally, very much enjoy to see eNeMeE immediately blow his cover, he'd also prefer to not have any chaos today.

   As he found his way down the side of the moat, he looked for one particular hole which was right above a platform. Spotting it, he jumped the moat and onto the platform without stumbling whatsoever. The hole in the wall was on a angle, like a slide. Meta readied himself before launching himself up the hole at the exact angle he needed to not hit the floor of the slide, but not the ceiling either. 

   He was going headfirst into what looked like a solid stone wall, but as he hit it, it spun on an axis and allowed him through to the other side of the wall. He'd skid to a halt on his feet, catching multiple Waddle Dees who were in the hallway by surprise as he did so. After straightening himself, he continued forward like nothing was wrong. 

   He headed straight to the rooms of the other two knights he trusted more than anyone else. Thankfully enough, when he entered, both of them were in there. Both, of course, watching television.

   "Sword Knight, Blade Knight."

   Meta Knight greeted, closing the door behind him. They didn't even so much as tilt their heads at him. Sword Blade simply raised up his hand then brought it back down. They were much too mentally busy focusing on the tv before them.

   Meta Knight looked down at his faint shadow, still in the complete shape of the wizard who'd taken home in it. Then, he went and sat down in his chair and watched television. He did his best to relax and watch tv with the boys, but the idea that there was a warlord in the room with him sort of prevented that from happening.

   The noise of the television and the noise of his own thoughts melded together into nonsense. Unpleasant, ringing nonsense. Partially the king's voice, partially his own, and the buzz of tubes. His eyes softened at it, then immediately hardened when he heard eNeMeE make a very, very loud discontented sigh. At it, Sword and Blade both looked at Meta Knight since he was the closest approximate source.

   "Somethin' wrong?" Sword questioned, part concerned and part confused.

   "I am thinking about the festival."

   Meta figured that was a good enough answer. It was even partially true, so it's not like he was spitting lies to cover himself. He was spitting half-lies.

   "Soroight, bapwbuheowepwwyguerhgerjgegtjehutgwokwo." Blade scholarly chipped in.

   "I agree, you have nothin' to worry 'bout, sir. It's nothin' but fun an' relaxation down there."

   Sword tried to calm the nerves too. Meta Knight wanted that sort of fun and relaxation, and maybe he would've even had it had it not been for. Well. Yeah. But even if he didn't have a wizard stitched to his every footstep now, it probably would've been a little hard anyways. Though he's never given it much of a try, it is sort of.. Beneath him.

   "Are ya goin'?" Sword continued.

   "Perhaps, we'll see." 

   "Well, we'll see ya down there if ya do. They should be finishin' up stuff down there real soon. Dedede's bound to show up an' make a big spectacle of it all."

   While the king had slightly calmed down since the days of ordering monsters from NME, he was still.. Well, he was still Dedede. He just didn't have a way to fully express it anymore other than his own self. Well, that and the various abominations that would show up on Popstar. But usually they'd just possess him, he wasn't ever able to commandeer them himself.

   "I'm sure." Meta Knight scoffed.

   "ERHUHEitgethgeUIEHGowoejERHIUehwpjhirtg." 

   Blade nodded, Sword nodding alongside him. If there was one thing Dedede was known for, it was destroying things. Meta Knight, if he was going on, better expect.. Well, a little bit of chaos. It was a decent warning to give to a first-timer at the festival.

   "This is soooooo boring."

   eNeMeE moaned.

   There was a long silence, then both the knights started scrambling away from Meta Knight, voiceless in their horror. eNeMeE quickly started cackling maliciously at their horror, his shadow wiggling out from beneath Meta Knight to be visible to them.

   "You're all making a scene."

   Meta Knight stated halfheartedly as the two knights took to stabbing the warlord infested floor with their swords, wizard crowing all the while. 

   "H-He's! He's!"

   Sword couldn't seem to get the words out of his throat, pointing at the shadow accusingly. eNeMeE pointed at himself innocently with one of his fingers, and if there were any expression on his expressionless silhouette face, it'd probably be of joking confusion.

   "Me? I'm not the ones stabbing someone. Meta Knight, get on their cases, they're the ones who turned to violence. Not me. I'm just sitting here on the floor innocently and they decided to attack me!"

   eNeMeE whined mockingly.

   "W-Why's he there!" Sword continued to gesture with his namesake.

   "He tried to bother me at the fountain by somehow magically zapping himself into my shadow. Now he's gotten himself stuck and I can't get rid of him."

   Meta heard slight gasps from his pupils and a loudly offended one from the person he was referring to.

   "You keep spewing lies! I'm not stuck!" eNeMeE spat.

   "So long as he stays in my shadow, we will be taking the utmost care to make sure he never has the chance to leave it. I'm telling the two of you this because I trust you," Meta stared into the blackness of Sword's visor, then straight into the armor of Blade, "and I expect you to help me with doing so."

   "He's just obsessed with me, he thinks he can keep me here. He has no idea what he's talking about either, I can just leave whenever I want."

   eNeMeE waved it off quickly. Sword shallowly approached the still seated Meta, posture tense.

   "I don't understand why ya'd want to do this."

   "Soright, eiurghetgiuewhgwerghetgh causin' chaos." Blade added.

   He reasoned it wasn't obvious to them because they had roots in selfishness, but Meta still found it obnoxious that he had to explain something so rudimentary to people who've been under his command for multiple years now.

   "If we make sure he stays here, we make sure he can't start another company. Though we can't be sure he doesn't have real world co-"

   "You're talking about me like I'm not even here."

   eNeMeE complained from the floor, adjusting his shadow so that way Blade wasn't stepping on him. Meta coughed as to adjust himself and brush off the statement.

   "Though I'm not sure he has any real world contacts," Meta heard eNeMeE grumble, "the best way to keep someone from doing something is to hold them somewhere they cannot leave. If anyone does come looking for him, I want both of you to help me to ensure they do not find him."

   Both the knights nodded, though Meta could still tell they were nervous by the fact they were still standing at attention, waiting for something.

   "Calm down, he is completely helpless like this."

   "You don't even know that, I just haven't done anything harmful yet!"

   eNeMeE interjected once again, this time Meta decided he'd entertain the wizard for moment. Mostly because he figured it'd be important to do so. He knew the answer, but if eNeMeE demonstrated, he figured it'd be more effective.

   "Do something." Meta beckoned.

   The wizard's grin became apparent in his shadow, stretching from what would've been his face to the other via a hole in the shadow itself. eNeMeE did something with his hands, but nothing happened. After nothing happened, he tried to grab at one of the knights. Grabbing at their feet. However, he was still confided to the floor and his attempts to grab at Blade's foot fell flat as his talons just went straight under the other.

   Then, eNeMeE went to grab their shadows. His hand just passed through those too. He growled and Meta lazily gestured in his vague direction.

   "As shown. Completely harmless."

   Despite Meta's soothing, the knights were still on edge. They both flinched when eNeMeE roared in frustration, still trying to do something or other.

   "Though none of us like it, we have to. We have a duty to keep the galaxy safe from him, and a duty to punish him for his crimes as well."

   Meta mused, seeing the shadow turn back to him. Unhappy as a brat could be, he put his hands back into the silhouette of a cape.

   "If ya say." Blade nodded.

   "I just think it may be a bit dangerous. What happens if the king finds out? Or who ever's left from eNeMeE's company found out?"

   Sword questioned. Meta Knight's mind went back to the raid on the company, recalling the fact that the entire place had literally exploded in a very violent fashion. The chance of anyone surviving that..

   "eNeMeE's main supporters, and I'd assume higher up staff were destroyed with his company, hence why we haven't had to deal with people who've associated with him for this long. The chances of anyone looking for him are slim, but we shouldn't rule them out either."

   "People're always looking for my autographs, so look out for them."

   eNeMeE snarked and Meta Knight rolled his eyes the best he could— though it wasn't very apparent to anyone else in the room.

   "Are ya still gonna go to the festival with him in there? The king may be an issue.."

   Blade's question had already received an answer before it was even asked.

   "I won't get in the king's way, he will most likely be focused on Kirby as usual. I figured a trip to the festival now would be a needed.. Humility check for our guest."

   Meta amused himself slightly at the idea of eNeMeE being humble, or even shutting up for a moment that was elongated past a couple awkward seconds. Even the wizard in question was amused at the idea, but for a different reason.

   "Oh please. I'm the most humble person you know. I'm the best at everything, including the best at being humble."

   eNeMeE, the capitalist ex-god-emperor of the universe smiled wide at how humble he was.

   "Well," Meta dryly responded, "you can remind us all how humble you are at the Star Rod Festival."


	3. Festival PT 2

   eNeMeE took a deep breath.

   "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo."

   His whining about going to this festival had gotten less and less screechy the further they got from the castle and the closer they got to town. Meta Knight tolerated it well enough because it was easy to just block it out, but Sword and Blade were far less patient than he was. It didn't help their patience had been worn especially thin, having to deal with the wizard until night now fell.

   "Shut it, you!" Sword snapped harshly, his voice shaking while doing so.

   "Or what?"

   eNeMeE immediately perked up at the sight of someone getting angry, instantly amused by the so easily gained outburst of venom. He couldn't get it from Meta, so Sword would do instead.

   "Or else when we get there, I'm gonna-"

   "Sword," Meta interrupted, "no amount of threats is going to get him to stop whining. You getting angry at him will only provoke him to whine more."

   "I'm not whining, I'm complaining."

   eNeMeE focused on that, meanwhile Sword huffed. While the town got closer, the trio (and company) smellular devices picked up the scent of freshly baked goods and the distinct smell of food made with salt in all the right places.

   "Plan, soroight?" Blade decided to change the topic.

   "You two will enter as casual civilians, but try to stay out of the sight of Tiff, Tuff, his majesty, his lordship Escargoon, or Kirby. I will be staying to rooftops and high places where I cannot be seen by anyone."

   Meta spoke eloquently and smoothly, the words and ideas pouring out of him in a monotonous but very easy way.

   "Why do you need a plan. This is supposed to be a festival, not a battle." eNeMeE, despite already knowing the answer (or maybe he'd forgotten it) sarcastically grumbled.

   "Perhaps it is a festival for now, but with his majesty's presence, it may yet be a battle."

   "It's just him throwing his hammer around, it's not like he has anything of mine anymore. It's not even a real fight, it's a boring one with no monsters or fire or even, any actual death and destruction."

   "How boring." Meta Knight stated flatly.

   "It's very boring!" eNeMeE's voice rose, whether he saw Meta's sarcasm was unbeknownst to the knights, "It's about as boring as watching paint dry! You people need me because otherwise your lives would be too peaceful! Like, even this! You're holding a festival! It's so boring!"

   "Stars forbid there be any peace in my life."

   "I sure hope they do, rotten blueberry, because you'd be very, very bored without me."

   "It's not as if monsters and evil people alike show up out of nowhere every few months."

   Meta's snide remark got eNeMeE to make a loud 'UGHH' noise. Meanwhile, Sword and Blade were exchanging silent looks, trying to make sense of what was going on right now.

   "You know what, okay, listen to me. When I had my company, things were peaceful because I am super powerful and had everything under my thumb. The only problems you had to deal with were my problems. I made those problems specifically for you."

   "His majesty made the problems," Meta corrected, "you sold the solutions."

   "I sold you monsters?"

   "Your monsters were used as solutions for his majesty's problems; that being Kirby."

   "I still sold you problems because Kirby's problem was your problem. Stop being so helmetheaded! You're so stubborn and hard to deal with."

   "Which is why you decide to not torment anyone else except me."

   "Yes. Also because you're the only guy who survived the war and I want to kill you very much."

   Meta Knight sighed and the wizard laughed at his exasperation. They'd had this conversation, this same one, it feels like, about three times now. It doesn't feel like the topic has changed at all since the fountain, and honestly it was pretty dull at this point.

   Though, with Cappytown closing in, the wizard in his shadow may soon be changing his tune. It only took a few minutes and a bit more of wizard provocation at Sword Knight's expense before they'd eventually arrived.

   The roads were packed with colorful vendors, their tents decorated in stars and lanterns. The streets were lit by standing torches which hung little necklaces of stars around them. Long streamers came from from the outcropping roofs of houses in red, yellow, and white. The street was covered in confetti, leaves, wrappers, and some other general trash which needed to be cleaned up after all was said and done.

   Meta Knight launched himself onto a roof with a nice vertical leap, the lights barely reaching him from atop the shingles and what not. He gave a nod to Sword and Blade, who entered the decorated streets in the most casual manner they could muster.

   Meta Knight went ahead of them, looking around the entire square as well as the other similarly decorated streets to find out where exactly Kirby and his friends were. It took a small bit of time, but he'd eventually found the kids hanging out next to a cotton candy stand, chatting while holding the pink, star-shaped fluff. eNeMeE made a gagging noise.

   "This entire thing makes me sick."

   He remarked. Meta's silence encouraged him to continue unabated.

   "Children shouldn't be having fun, they should be working, or doing something productive! Or screaming in terror! They certainly shouldn't be celebrating a stick."

   "I'm sure if you ever had children, you would make a fantastic father." Meta Knight's 'compliment' was flat, as most things he said were.

   "I'm fantastic at everything, that goes without saying."

   Meta Knuckle half-heartedly chuckled to himself as he moved away from the area the kids were in to continue his search for his majesty. He hadn't seen the royal car anywhere in the streets, parked nor active. General conclusion drew itself that the king had not yet arrived.

   Calming himself from his search, Meta Knight stood quietly (and mysteriously) ontop of a roof, the moon probably right behind him for super dramatic effect. He watched over the square like a weirdo on a roof. The light of the festival reflected off his mask faintly as he stood, and the knight's inactivity made the restless brat in his shadow groan.

   "Can you move somewhere else." It was less a question and moreso a command.

   "Why?"

   "Because I said so!"

   Another command from eNeMeE, but louder this time. Meta Knight just honestly wanted to go to the fountain and just be rid of this man, but his sense of duty wouldn't allow it.

   "Fine, we can move somewhere else."

   Meta Knight submitted, moving down the roof and to the edge of the shingles, overlooking the road below. eNeMeE sounded like he was about to say something, but then the knight jumped and landed on the street and the other wheezed and shut up. Meta Knight looked back at his oddly very defined shadow to see the wizard's silhouette transforming into Meta Knight's.

   "Remember," Meta Knight decided to remind him in a very low tone, "everyone here would like nothing better than to see you permanently dead. It is in your best interest that beyond this point, you do not say a word, no matter how urgent it may be."

   "Don't tell me what to do."

   eNeMeE hissed under his breath, a few Cappys immediately noticing the voice as they passed by Meta Knight. They gave a few stares, but they passed on, either not recognizing the voice of the warlord or hearing it loud enough to cause panic.

   Meta Knight stepped out into the crowd and began walking down the street, allowing the one in his shadow to see all the festivities from the ground. He heard a few mute disgusted gasps from behind him as he saw a vendor selling Star Rod lollipops. The sticks were colored just as the Star Rod was, with a star-shaped yellow hardcandy at the end. Figuring it to be harmless enough, Meta walked up to the vendor.

   "Sir Meta Knight!" The cappy man crooned, "How nice to see you!"

   "Yes." Meta responded simply.

   "What can I get for you?"

   The man questioned, and all it took from Meta was a point of his hand. Soon enough, two lollipops were deposited into his hand. He looked at the vendor with mild surprise.

   "Buy one get one free!"

   The man chirped. Meta was silent before reaching into his cape and pulling out a small bit of money. The man took it, then the orb departed, walking until he found a decently reserved spot behind (and between) two vendors stalls. Neither of them seemed to mind his presence, nor care that he was there.

   "You disgust me." eNeMeE growled quietly.

   Meta Knight said nothing as he took the small bit of protective plastic off the lollipop, then pushed the entire thing through his visor and into his mouth. Stick and all. There was no crunching, no sucking, it was just gone.

   "I am not a very big fan of lemon.."

   Meta Knight was hoping for a flavor like banana, honestly. He heard eNeMeE grumble more at his apparent plight being ignored. Meta Knight turned to him, pointing the other candy accusingly at him. eNeMeE's shadow wiggled and twisted on instinct, trying to get away from the sour weapon of his destruction.

   "What's wrong? I'm simply offering you a candy."

   Meta Knight teased and the wizard growled further. Had he a physical form, Meta didn't doubt he would've slapped the lollipop out of his hand, but he was a bit constrained at the moment.

   "That's not funny."

   eNeMeE, very clearly still unhappy, did not relax nor draw closer to the treat even after Meta had explicitly told him it was harmless. Meta would've perked an eyebrow if he had any.

   "It's pretty funny."

   He unwrapped the lollipop and did the exact same thing he'd done with the first one. Satisfied, he'd headed back onto the street to peruse the other shops. Any time he'd heard eNeMeE's disgusted gasp, he'd stop, look around, then head directly towards what he'd assume was the thing that made the other revolted. It seemed to be a relatively effective thing to do, though he didn't really have much use for the things he bought.

   Except this huge Star Rod pillow. He was definitely going to be using it, if not just to make the wizard angry.

   He'd met up with Sword and Blade after a short while, who were more than happy to carry his armfuls of merchandise for him like the good knaves they were. Meta Knight basically loaded up on the stuff, all while eNeMeE was forced to stay quiet about his hatred.

   Though, there was one final thing that snapped eNeMeE's silence. It hadn't been an object, nor had it even been Star Rod related. They were entering a T shaped intersection from the vertical side to the horizontal side, and eNeMeE had seemingly looked down the opposite direction which the knight hadn't.

   "Meta Knight," eNeMeE's voice was full of frustration, confusion, and anger, "look the other way."

   Meta Knight did not, at first, but eventually did out of curiosity. There, at one of the vendors was none other than Susie Patrya Haltmann. Live in the silicon flesh. Not only that, but the vendor she was talking to was none other than Magolor. Both of them were laughing.

   Meta Knight's eyes snapped red immediately, as he drew Galaxia with a great electrostatic crackle. He threw open his cape and immediately rushed for Susie, the very air around him electric as she quickly caught a whiff of his danger. She'd spun around just in time to know she had to dodge a fatal slice that most likely would've cut her head in right in half.

   She'd yelled in alarm as Meta Knight's assault continued, her dodges very haphazard and amateurish compared to his concise strikes. He'd sliced until he'd cut her face. She'd moved back enough as to not have her head completely vertically dissected, but not enough to get out without damage. He'd cut across her bangs, then directly through her eye. The eye itself short-circuited and burst with light before powering down and growing dark.

   Susie did not cry out in pain, mostly just in anger.

   Magolor, stunned, finally got up in arms and tackled Meta Knight, trying to subdue him. However, a sift kick of Meta Knight's metal boots to the other's egg body were a very easy convincer when it came to getting him off. Magolor yelped in pain and drew away as Susie drew for her gun. Meta Knight was on her like Kirby on watermelons, stabbing straight through the barrel of her gun with Galaxia, rendering it useless.

   Magolor was on Meta Knight's back, but he felt the egg get lifted off pretty quickly by what he could only assume was Sword and Blade. Meta took no time and was about to stab this vicious little woman straight through her head, but then he heard the offended gasp of his majesty. That, and Susie managed to once more get out of the way before he could put her down.

   "Hey! Hey! What'chu doin' to my friends!?"

   The penguin ex-machina'd out of nowhere. Well, not out of nowhere, he'd come from the very same street that Meta and his knaves had come down. He was in his limousine and was followed by a battalion of Waddle Dees. He'd exited the passengers side door and stomped up to Meta Knight, shoving him aside.

   "Your knight is a very violent one, your majesty," Susie sighed, pointing at her broken eye as though it was a very normal thing to have, "he just saw me and started attacking."

   "I tried my hardest, your greatness," Magolor broke in, held by Sword and Blade (who had dropped Meta Knight's stuff on the ground to capture the egg), "but he just wouldn't stop. Poor Susie, look at her! She's probably going to have an ugly scar on her face forever."

   "Why are you here."

   Meta Knight stared Susie down. He did not break eyecontact, nor did his vision ever falter back to yellow as he did so. Susie seemed unphased, her working eye not showing the slightest hint of worry or hurt.

   "We are his glorious majesty's new friends. He was so gracious as to pardon us of any wrongdoings.. You truly do have a most merciful king, Meta Knight. You should be honored to serve him."

   Susie purred and Dedede laughed, loving the way it built him up. Dedede, smug, looked at Meta Knight with a huge smile on his face.

   "These two helped us enough, they ain't no trouble no more."


	4. Timeout

   "You can't be serious, your majesty."

   Sword Knight objected, seeing his teacher's anger and knowing it was completely valid. All it had taken for Dedede to change his mind on these two was one world ending cataclysmic demon and that's it? Seriously?

   "He's as serious as he is blue," Escargoon quipped from the car, "and you better show him the respect he deserves or I'll run ya over!"

   "Please don't do that." 

   Magolor's statement went generally ignored, but his status of being held was silently acknowledged. Dedede stood infront of Meta Knight, getting between the knight and his torturer.

   "I want you to get along with this here pinkie, and that's that. She more than enough made up for what she did to you with that Void Terminal."

   Meta Knight's red eyes bore into the penguin as he spoke, and perhaps the blubber infront of the king's brain prevented him from getting the message that doing such an ungodly compassion-less action was bad. Meta Knight's hand tightened around his sword's grip.

   "No she didn't. She wants to conquer the universe. If the universe is destroyed, she will not be able to conquer it. She only helped out of necessity." 

   Meta Knight spat, his eyes going back to Susie as she cuddled up to the king. She put her body nice and close to the penguin, resting her damaged head against the large arm of the penguin. Meta Knight saw immediately what she'd done just by that one simple physical affection.

   "She said she was sorry 'an all, you're just real apathetic and unforgiving!" Dedede sneered, pronouncing it 'a pathetic'.

   "Forgive and forget, that's my motto!" Escargoon backed Dedede up. "Course, it's real easy to forget when you have a couple thousand DBills telling you to."

   Both the king and the snail laughed, as did Susie. Magolor stayed quiet, moreso still struggling to get out of Sword and Blade's grip. Unfortunately, he was just some weak egg sorcerer and they were two literal fully armored guards.

   The laughing and the spectacle of the king had drawn a crowd of Cappies. It, unfortunately, also drew more than just the Cappies. Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby pulled through the crowd to see what was happening (the crowd was far too thick to see anything), and when they saw what exactly was going on.. Well.

   The way Tiff went at Susie was akin to that of a furious warrior woman with a thirst for vengeance. Meta was very familiar with such a sight. The training he'd given her truly did not go to waste as she'd slaughtered the older woman with punches. Dedede was so surprised, he'd even twisted his face into fear at the sight of this child just going absolutely buckwild.

   Dedede tried to grab her and pull her off, but Tiff slapped his hand away so hard that despite the glove, he yelped and nursed his new bruise.

   Susie, unfortunately, seemed rather unphased by Tiff's assault. She'd simply grabbed Tiff by the ponytail once she'd gotten bored of the attempts to cause her pain. She just floated slightly above the ground higher, as to suspend Tiff by her ponytail. 

   Meta Knight took to action once more, slicing Susie's hand and freeing Tiff while doing so. Tiff held her physical violence, but Meta Knight could tell that she was just like him; a bomb ready to burst. Kirby had approached, standing by Tiff's side, with the exact same angry expression. He felt it appropriate.

   "Oh geez, you sure don't like me, huh?" Susie said innocently.

   "That's putting it really plainly." Tiff hissed.

   "You are not welcome here, no matter what his majesty thinks."

   Meta Knight added, squaring up once more. Tiff did exactly the same. Kirby looked at the two of them, examining their stances with momentary wide-eyed curiousness before realizing he should copy one of them. He copied Tiff's.

   "Leave or be destroyed." 

   He continued.

   "I'm not about to be threatened by Pinky's savage friends. Your majesty," Susie turned to Dedede, who was kissing his bruised hand, "would you mind showing me how it is that you keep them all in line?"

   Dedede blinked, looked around as if he wasn't the one being talked to, then quickly adjusted himself. He put his hands behind his back, puffed up his chest, and made himself as boisterous as possible.

   "Can you also get these two to let go of me." Magolor was still ignored.

   "I ain't gonna let my new friends be pushed around! You're all under arrest for.." 

   Dedede blanked on the word, so he looked over to Escargoon.

   "Uuhh," Escargoon panicked from being put on the spot, "heresy? Wait, no, assault!"

   "Yer under arrest for a salt!" Dedede clarified.

   The Waddle Dees who'd followed the car began their extremely quick march over, grabbing Tiff, Kirby, and Meta Knight. Sword Knight and Blade Knight were notably left untouched by the Dees. They saw their position, unhanding the egg in exchange for trying to help their mentor. Who, despite being a war veteran, was having a hard time getting Waddle Dees off him.

   Soon enough, the three were hoisted and quickly ran off by the horde of Dees. Sword Knight, Blade Knight, and Tuff had tried to catch up to them, but it was like a person on foot trying to keep up with a train that was carrying their best friend off to a new foreign land that the person on the train platform couldn't go to, so all they were doing was chasing after something they couldn't actually ever hope to catch up to by foot. It's like that but minus all the emotional parts of it. 

   "Thank you, your majesty."

   Susie put on a verbal smile. Dedede grimaced, looking at her cut up face and literally broken eye.

   "That ain't permanent, right?" He'd asked.

   "No, of course not."

   "Alright, 'cuz I ain't want no ugly lookin' queen."

   "Oh please," Susie laughed to herself, "lets save the queen talk until after we have dinner together."

* * *

 

   The dungeons used to be fairly dusty, but what with the frequent traffic of idiots trying to take over or destroy the planet, its use was more frequent than usual. The most recent occupants had already been let out, which meant more room for Meta Knight, Kirby, and Tiff. 

   Tiff got to share a cell with Meta Knight, meanwhile Kirby was by himself. He was just in an adjacent block though, so it wasn't like he was isolated and alone. The Waddle Dees probably would've put them all in one cell if it weren't for the fact that there were only two pairs of manacles each in the cages they'd chosen.

   Tiff squirmed in her cuffs, meanwhile Meta Knight just hung limply. Kirby slipped out of his confines basically immediately after the Waddle Dees had all left, but found he couldn't pass through the bars no matter how harshly he pressed his face up against the horizontal and vertical grid of steel. It'd been a while since those horizontal bars had been put in, and honestly, if they weren't there, Kirby would've been able to go right through and help the other two prisoners.

   "I can't believe Dedede would do this. He's done some awful things before, but this really is possibly one of the worst things he's ever done, ever."

   Tiff's anger was something thereputic to Meta Knight. Seeing someone get angry on behalf of him, towards people who hurt him, felt very pleasant. Especially since it was Tiff who'd said it; someone rather famous for holding a very, very strong opinion on multiple topics. Mostly politics.

   "Yes, aside from his other crimes, it was very.." Meta Knight paused, not letting the words he wanted to say out of his mouth, "Inconsiderate of him."

   "I thought he changed. Obviously he's still just as bad as he was when he was buying monsters from NME and stealing the entire country's food."

   Tiff grumbled, continuing to struggle in her chains. She pulled on the manacles, trying to rip them and the chains from the wall. However, she wasn't near strong enough to do so. Not even three elemental generals could break out of them through physical force, and they were active warriors. Tiff was not.

   "He simply did not have a way to express himself in terms of rotten deeds, I believe." Meta Knight said cooly.

   "If my company were still around, thanks a lot by the way, this wouldn't have happened. You would've kept him evil the entire time, no betrayed trust dilemma or anything."

   eNeMeE added. Tiff nodded silently for a moment, then she got extremely perplexed. She looked around, looking towards the hallway. Then, she looked back at Meta Knight.

   "Did you hear that?" She'd asked, voice laced with fear.

   "Depends."

   "Meta Knight."

   "Yes, I did."

   "That voice sounded familiar, it-"

   "Are you serious?" eNeMeE interjected into her train of thought, "I put on that whole big show, might as well have been an entire movie, honestly, you blow up my company, and you can't even bother to remember my voice? I'd be insulted if you weren't just some stupid, random child who doesn't know the color red from the number four."

   The wizard's words seemed to distress Tiff for a moment, then she began struggling even more furiously against her binds.

   "Tiff, you can calm down. I have him under control." 

   Meta reassured, and Tiff took a moment before quelling. She narrowed her eyes at Meta, though he knew that her anger wasn't directed at him. Even if it was, he wouldn't particularly care. She was just a kid, and he was an adult, nothing she could say nor face she decided to make would ever hurt his feelings.

   "What's going on here, why are you here? Did you bring Susie with you? Tell us your plan, now."

   Tiff's demands allowed the wizard to cackle. His shadow wiggled out from underneath Meta Knight, forming into his own silhouette. It approached Tiff, causing her to kick at his face with her foot. It did nothing, but he laughed at her attempt and backed away anyways.

   "Well, lets see, I-"

   "He has none." 

   Meta Knight interrupted, the wizard's false offended gasp following suit.

   "His appearance is wholly coincidental, he isn't smart enough to think up a plan, much less one that involves the appearance of Susie and Magolor."

   "You don't know that." eNeMeE argued.

   Tiff seemed uneasy about the situation, but Meta Knight did seem to be saying.. Well, something. It was at least a bit comforting. She didn't know much about eNeMeE, and Meta Knight did. If he said that the wizard didn't have a plan and he's too stupid to think of one, then he's probably right.

   "You hate Susie, you wouldn't work with her, and you said Magolor was 'blandly designed'." Meta Knight looked at the shadow directly.

   "I hate Susie because she got to torture you and I didn't. It's not fair! You're mine to traumatize, she doesn't get to do that. I was the one who was supposed to torture you, not her!" 

   eNeMeE stumbled over his words before going into a high pitched angered yowl.

   "I got first picks, I had an entire war and a regime and money and everything and she got to torture you!? Some random pink twit?! You didn't even have a history or anything with her, but you do with me! I deserve to torture you first, and be the only person who gets to torture you!"

   Meta Knight and Tiff shared a silent stare at eachother as the wizard's manic yelling about torture privileges devolved into just annoyed noises. Tiff kept looking between the floor and Meta Knight, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to compose herself considering all the things that've been happening.

   "Okay, Susie can wait." 

   Tiff opened her eyes again. Meta Knight saw the same angered flare in her eyes that'd she'd obtained when she was beating up Susie.

   "Getting rid of eNeMeE is more important. As soon as Tuff or Sword and Blade come down here, we need to go to the Dream Fountain and-"

   "We cannot do that." 

   Meta Knight's interruptions made Tiff's face twitch. He mentally noted to stop doing that, lest he be on the buisness end of a roundhouse one day. Passive aggressiveness had to end in aggression at some point, right?

   "Why not."

   "If we get rid of him, he will return to a week later."

   "What's so important about keeping him around now?"

   "He's trapped within my shadow due to his own incompetence. He apparently cannot leave. If he is allowed to be destroyed, he is allowed to be free, allowing him to potentially regain power in the universe."

   "I'm not stuck." eNeMeE bemoaned.

   "We still need to get rid of him," Tiff ignored eNeMeE's input outright, "but we need to keep him trapped. You can't have him stuck in your shadow for Stars knows how long, Meta Knight. It's not good for you."

   "Perhaps not. But it must be done for the good of the universe."

   Meta Knight's stubbornness made Tiff sigh.

   "After we get out of this jail cell, I want you to help me look for some magicians, or sorcerers, or anyone who can help to get him out of your shadow and put him somewhere that's an actual container."

   "Oh yeah, good luck. No one would ever be able to put me into a 'container'. I'd break out and then crack your planet in half. Nothing can hold me." eNeMeE said rather smugly.

   "Other than my shadow." 

   Meta Knight replied blandly. Tiff gasped, like she had a revelation. 

   "We can get someone to remove your shadow and trap that, trapping him too! We just need to find someone who's good at manipulating shadows or light or something like that.."

   "Horrible conversation, drop it."

   eNeMeE's insistence only encouraged Tiff to think harder. No one was really coming to mind right now, but that's probably because everything was rather stressful. Tiff kept thinking in relative silence, meanwhile eNeMeE's silhouette returned to Meta Knight, as though he was sick of being around the kid. She was much too smart for him.

   "I warned you about talking." 

   Meta Knight's 'I told you so' was met with a snarl and nothing more.

   "Maybe we can ask Simirror.. Or maybe Kirby's Light ability could work? No harm in trying both, I guess."

   Tiff mused out loud. Meta Knight gave her a simple nod, and she gave a simple smile in return. 

   Just as the two came to an agreement, they heard doors being opened and the clatter of armor. Sword Knight and Blade Knight ran to the jail cells, Tuff following a fair length away. He panted and wheezed as the two knights quickly went to unlocking Meta and Tiff's cell with their keys.

   "Hey, do they..?" 

   Tiff asked under her breath, tilting her head at the knights. Meta Knight nodded. She noticed Tuff was in the room, and she wasn't sure if she needed him distressed over this too.

   Meta Knight was quickly unshackled by Sword Knight, same with Tiff. Blade Knight unlocked Kirby's cell in the meantime.

   "I feel like I'm going to faint." 

   Tuff coughed, steadying himself against one of the dungeon walls. Kirby waddled up to him and offered a nub. He took it with his other hand, but it still really didn't make him feel any better.

   "Soroight, plan?" 

   Blade questioned as Meta Knight and Tiff got up and walked out of their cells. Meta Knight looked at the three kids, who were all turned towards the orb for guidance.

   "I believe you three will be able to handle whatever may come from Susie or Magolor. Sword, Blade, and I will be.. Around. If you require assistance."

   "Can you do that research I asked you to do while we're busy dealing with Susie and Magolor?" 

   Tiff sounded impatient, not very happy with the turnaround that Meta Knight was making. Reasonably so, he just dumped fighting two very dangerous people onto her platter without much ceremony or theatrics.

   "Yes, I will look into it. Now, let us get out of this dungeon."

   Kirby lead the way to the door, quickly bounding ahead of the group to get out of the dank and boring jail. As soon as they were out and back into the castle's above ground hallways, they were spotted by some Waddle Dee guards. However, they totally did not care whatsoever and just marched along like nothing was peculiar about their recently labelled criminals of the crown walking around outside of jail.

   "Good luck." 

   Meta Knight gave that verbal goodbye to Tiff before turning and walking around, taking Sword and Blade with him.


	5. Bookcase

    As soon as the knights entered the library, Meta had headed for the first lounge seat he spotted. He settled into it very nicely, feeling what little strain and stress he had in him wash away in the cushions. Sword and Blade watched him curiously, having expected him to just start picking out books and putting them on a table to search through.

    "Hirhgetgerguierhoweohrguerhgt?"

    Blade asked.

    "Yeh, shouldn't we be lookin' through the books, Meta Knight?" 

    Sword added. They walked close to him, expecting to have a full conversation.

    "There's nothing in here that'll help us. I've read all of these books, and his majesty has no interest in magic. Neither does Escargoon."

    Meta Knight stated matter-of-factly. eNeMeE snickered in delight at the revelation, coiling in the shadows like some sort of jubilant snake. He looked awful pleased with himself, a wide grin on his dumb wizard face.

    "We'll wait Magolor and Susie out in here." Meta Knight nodded.

    "Oh no, no, you are not waiting them out." 

    eNeMeE's mood immediately snapped to anger, a scary amount of it building him near to immediately. Sword and Blade startled, but Meta sat perfectly fine and still, collected despite the fact that the wizard had threateningly loomed his form over the bookshelves.

    "You are going to go out there and you're going to kill Susie, and that's an order from me."

    "Kirby is perfectly capable of defeating Susie on his own." Meta Knight replied.

    "I don't care! She tortured you and that's not fair to _me_! You need to go out and kill her because revenge!"

    eNeMeE's demented 'affection' used to creep him out. Then again, so did everything else, but honestly all of this was just a joke now. A part of life. Meta Knight scoffed, smiling smug under his mask at how stupid the motive was. 

    "I have even less reason to go kill her then, since you want me to."

    Meta Knight didn't even bother to look at eNeMeE this entire time, which is why he probably didn't expect for a book to smash against the back of his head at the velocity that it did. Meta splattered on the floor, but quickly got to his feet and finally looked at him. 

    Even eNeMeE seemed a little shocked at his actions. At his new capability.

    "This has gotten much more serious." Meta Knight stated lowly, so his knaves could hear.

    eNeMeE grinned, outlines of sharp teeth allowing themselves on his silhouette as he hucked another book at Meta Knight. However, since Meta Knight was super duper cool and epic, he pulled out Galaxia and sliced it in half. Paper went everywhere. 

    "eNeMeE, stop. You're ruining books by touching them." Meta Knight scolded.

    "Go and fight Susie and I'll stop."

    eNeMeE had another book in hand. The book wasn't touching the wizard. Rather, the book's shadow was. The book was hovering in midair, perfectly infront of Meta Knight as though they were on the same two dimensional plane. 

    "I'll watch as Tiff beats Susie, will that be enough to satisfy your ego?"

    "Absolutely not. You need to kill her- OH. WAIT. I CAN KILL HER NOW."

    Oh no.

    "eNeMeE. No." 

    Meta Knight was talking to him like he was some disobedient dog in need of scolding, but the knight's 'pet' simply was too unruly to listen to him. eNeMeE darted out of the room, sliding underneath the door. Meta Knight sighed, but then suddenly, he got pulled along like he was attached on a rope to a runaway monster's leg. He slammed directly into the library doors, cracking the wood and bashing his mask into his face. He felt a strenuous pull against the front of his body, pinning him forcefully against one of the double doors. It was such a hard tug that he could hardly move his arms. The edges of his mask were digging into his face.

    "Sir!"

    "Joeoijegtwrgheugerugtehrtgiuh!?"

    His knaves got behind him, concerned for his health. Undoubtedly, the door was the only thing keeping eNeMeE from going any further, because Meta Knight was caught on it. He heard the wizard's annoyed growls on the other side, mad because he was tethered for no reason and kept in place.

    "eNeMeE is getting more used to his form." Meta Knight grunted, voice muffled more than usual, "It's imperative that we find a way to imprison him proper, before he gets even more comfortable in it. If things keep going like this, it'll only be a matter of time before he figures out how to use his magic again."

    "Hajgghguhshdihuhgiug, magic usin?" Blade asked, trying to rip Meta Knight off the door to little results.

    "I have reason to believe he'd be in no condition to figure out how this shadow ability works if he were away from me."

    Meta was stately about his delivery. He knew what he was talking about. The other two knights knew he was serious about it, and educated. There was no reason to question why.

    "..Open the door." 

    Meta Knight continued. Sword hesitated, but dd as he was told. Meta Knight slipped out of the room like a speeding bullet, being dragged along by eNeMeE at such a pace where he couldn't keep on his feet. Meta Knight skidded and dragged on the floor, tumbling and rolling. He smacked into walls when eNeMeE turned a corner too sharply, and his mask's polish was most certainly wearing away. He was even making sparks as he was brought along.

    eNeMeE, meanwhile, was enjoying himself causing general terror from the Waddle Dees he passed by, and he enjoyed himself even moreso when he saw he was bringing Meta Knight along with him. Though, the appeal of the whole thing wore off quickly when he couldn't find Susie anywhere. He stopped after a couple minutes, allowing Meta Knight to stagger to his 'rugburnt' feet.

    "eNeMeE, stop. Kirby will deal with it." Meta dusted himself off, folding his cape around himself again.

    "She took something from me. I get to be the one who punishes her for it. No one else." 

    eNeMeE was absolutely serious, crossing onto a wall to look at Meta Knight from somewhere other than the floor. Really helped to be taller than the Batamon and show he still had the tact to act he was full of ego.

    "Wherever she is, Kirby will deal with her."

    "Don't you want revenge!? What's wrong with you!? She tortured you, you should be hunting her down! What happened to the angry guy at that stupid festival!?" Behind his silhouette, the bricks shuttered as eNeMeE shouted. Further down the hall, the Waddle Dees dropped their spears and ran. 

    "I don't care who makes her pay, eNeMeE. If she does, then she does. That's karma enough."

    "Just because you don't care," eNeMeE leaned, his figure curling cartoonishly to exemplify his heated temper and horrific being, "doesn't mean I don't. You're stupid. You don't even care about anything, and that little wench stole from me, and _I_ care enough to punish her for it."

    "eNeMeE, I don't belong to you."

    Perhaps for any other person, they would've gotten mad at being treated like an object, but not Meta. He just stared numbly at the horrific creature that wiggled in petulant, towering rage. Meta's lack of expressiveness drove eNeMeE for a loop and he'd practically roared at Meta Knight's denial. 

    "If there's one thing I still have, that I own, it's YOU. I own you! I made you like this! You're mine!"

    "Shush it, idiot."

    " **I AM THE EMPEROR OF DARKNESS, THE UNIVERSE, AND ALL THAT'S EVIL, YOU DO NOT TELL ME TO SHUSH! YOU'RE NOTHING COMPARED TO ME!** "

    "Clearly," Meta Knight would've rolled his eyes if he had pupils, "that's why you're so obsessed to me to the point where you want to take revenge on my enemies for me."

    "Do not even pretend that I care for you, you rotten blueberry! I don't care about you! I want you to die! Anyone killing you gets in the way of me killing you! I was supposed to torture you first!"

    "It does make me wonder what you'll do after I do die. Though I'm more than sure I won't be dying from you, or anyone else."

    "I'll dance on your grave." 

    eNeMeE's figure got less threatening as he was influenced into calming down. Hook, line, and sinker.

    "With what feet."

    "I'll take your feet and turn them into skin boots which I'll tuck my cape into and dance on your grave with."

    "How pleasant."

    Meta Knight began to walk away. eNeMeE followed after him, staying to the wall rather than keeping on the floor.

    "Yes, and then I'll do another war and have a lot of fun because you'll be dead, and you're literally the only thing that stands in my way ever."

    "Kirby."

    "Who? Oh, yes, the gumball baby. Well, I'd kill him too. The war will kill him because you'll be dead, so you wouldn't be able to save him. And he's a baby, so he's stupid, so he'd die because he's stupid."

    "I see."

    "Then, yknow, I'd build a big evil metal castle and it's full of guns and it kills everything that comes near it unless I say so. Like before. I liked that place, and I'm still mad that little brat blew it up with her little brat friends."

    "I was there too."

    "You're one of her little goons."

    "I'm one of Tiff's goons." Meta Knight found the idea amusing, and just the way the word 'goon' sounded was fairly humorous as well. At least, to him it was.

    "Yeah, you're one of her goons and you goon it up. You're trying to get rid of me now because she thought up the idea, and because you're her goon, you decide it's a good plan and think 'oh yeah, I definitely should do that thanks boss' because you're her goon."

    "And why is it wrong for me to be a 'goon'?" 

    "Because you're supposed to be, like, y'know, some sort of leader guy who doesn't listen to anyone except yourself. You're getting bossed around by a kid."

    "And you got killed by a baby. Twice."

    "And!? You get beat up by that same baby like a bazillion times every day, so whatever!" 

    eNeMeE then suddenly seemed to notice where the two had arrived at two sentences or so ago. He watched as Sword and Blade closed the library doors again. However, Meta Knight snapped his mitt and got the wall-bound shadow to look back in his direction again.

    "Your losses are worse."

    "You lost more!" 

    eNeMeE snarled, completely forgetting about Sword and Blade. The two knaves watched on in amazement as Meta dealt with eNeMeE more and more, continuing on this absolutely nonsensical, useless conversation seemingly forever. He was professional, almost rehersed in how well he'd counter eNeMeE or draw out more dialogue from the warlord.

    "Hopefully Tiff can get Susie soon, can't imagine what things might look like if that bloke got to her."

    "Soroight, agreed."

 

* * *

 

    Susie sat right and proper at the dinner table. She sat at one end, Dedede sat at the other. The distance between them on the table was more than probably a few feet, the table covered in grandiose foods from Susie's end to Dedede's. Magolor was looking at the food and most likely drooling on his scarf, but Susie shot him a look and he got back to playing his violin. He wasn't horrible, but the occasional scratches and whines of the strings really didn't make the atmosphere 'romantic' at all.

    It blocked out the loud sounds of Dedede eating, at least, which Susie was bracing herself for as she took the long trek over to his side of the table. She prepared her best goo-goo eyes, and didn't give a singular look at the snail who was glowering at her as she cozied right up and close to the king.

    "I couldn't stand being away from you," Susie cooed as she grabbed a chair off the side and skooched it right up to Dedede's, "you're so cruel, making me sit on the other side of the table and away from your handsome face."

    She heard Magolor falsely gag. Dedede slowed his eating to giggle, then openly laugh to himself.

    "You hear that, Escargoon? She be thinkin' I'm handsome! Someone with some sense!" 

    Dedede craned his neck to the snail, whose sour expression only deepened. Then, he looked back to Susie with a huge, toothy grin, dirtied with cooked animal skins and meat seasonings. His chin was dribbled with grease and oil, an ugly yellow to his blue.

    "You're not only handsome, you're the finest catch in the land, sire. You're so strong, so handsome, and what an army you have. So cute, but so powerful too! However do you keep such an army in line?" 

    "They Waddle Dunces ain't nothin', now get back to talkin' about me!" Dedede commanded.

    "Oh, yes, excuse me," Susie fluttered her 'eyelashes', "you know, I've been obsessed with you the moment I tried to invade your planet for its resources.. Those Dedede Clones? They were made of love! Not the actual chemical, but you get what I mean. I've adored your form.. Your strength.. You're quite the hunk of a man and the greatest ruler to ever grace the Stars!"

    "Keep goin-"

    "Oh, I hope this isn't too forward, but my liege, I just want to kiss you!" 

    Susie leaned forward on the table. Dedede leaned back, seemingly in disgust and shock. Magolor's violin string broke, seemingly out of surprise, and out of Magolor's incompetence at violin. He made another gagging noise, but it sounded much more authentic this time.

    "You ain't got no lips??" 

    Dedede went forward again, but not of his own accord. Susie had gripped onto either side of his regal, fur coat and forced him back up. She had a surprising amount of strength in those floating hands. So much strength that she could move him around like he were nothing but a small grape.

    Susie closed her eyes, pained with herself, then forced her face against Dedede's. Dedede didn't know what to do at first, but he'd attempted what he thought was kissing. What he thought was kissing, well, was literall just smashing his tongue against another person's face. Susie felt sick, and if she had a the capability, she would've gone green.

    Suddenly, the dining room door burst open. Susie took her opprotunity to rip her face away from Dedede's as quickly as possible to see who the intruders were. Three kids. Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby. Dedede stood up angrily, slapping his stomach against the table as he did so.

    "Susie! We're here to stop you, we know you're up to no good!" Tiff challenged.

    "Why ain't you in the dungeons!? GUARDS!"

    Dedede yelled so loud that the entire castle probably heard. From behind Kirby and co emerged those cute little Waddle Guards, pointing their little dull spears at the backs of the children. Dedede smiled smugly, though his stomach suddenly gurgled and his face dropped. He fell back into his chair, a hand to his head.

    "Ough, I'm feeling a little lightheaded.."

    "Of course you are, sire," Susie cooed, wiping the spit from her face and flicking it onto Dedede's, "I have nanomachines on my face for emergencies, and you just put about a trillion of them into your body when you 'kissed' me. They're rearranging your anatomy and mechanizing you as we speak."

    "W-WHAT!?"

    Dedede writhed and groaned in his seat, the children on the other side of the dining hall aghast with horror (but not surprise) at Susie's confession to her evil deeds.

    "Don't worry, it won't do much. You'll just have some extra features. I'll lead the Waddle Dee army in the meantime."

    "Hey, uh," Tuff raised a finger, "just saying, you didn't have to bother with Dedede at all or anything, you could've just fed the Waddle Dees better than Dedede does and they probably would've defected over to your side."

    Susie's eyes widened slightly. Magolor snickered, so Susie used her free hand to swipe his violin and slam it over his head in such a way that he would be stuck in the middle, the remains of the instrument encircling him like a tutu. Escargoon tried to advance, but he stopped and went back to whatever he was doing fairly quickly when she pulled out a gun on him.

    "Hindsight's twenty-twenty," Susie sighed, "what's done is done. My dear king, would you please give me full control over your kingdom's army?"

    Dedede kept writhing and whining, curling on the dinner chair the best he could. He looked like he'd tumble onto the floor at any moment with the way he moved.

    "Whatever! Just get these robots to stop wreckin' my insides!"

    "Waddle Dees, I want these class traitors executed. And, my dear king, I want you to say that you're the one who ordered it, if anyone asks. Thanks, dear."


	6. Cyborg Queen PT 1

    When eNeMeE had abruptly stopped talking to look around the room— in a fairly exaggerated manner specifically so Meta could acknowledge he was looking around— Meta Knight knew something or other was up. When he followed the looking around by a loud, disgusting slurping noise that one would make when explaining what it sounds like to slurp a spaghetti noodle, Meta Knight lost next to near all interest.

    "Do you taste that?" 

    eNeMeE's question sounded rhetoric. Meta Knight stared at his shadow, vacantly, waiting for the man to continue with whatever stupid followup he had.

    "It's fear. And it's delicious."

    eNeMeE purred and made a soft noise of satisfaction. As though he'd eaten a good meal that he didn't get tired of halfway. One of perfect serving size, that he didn't have to rush through to complete and get all the taste out of. 

    Meta Knight just stared through him, expecting him to continue on. eNeMeE looked back as though he'd wanted Meta Knight to sort of.. Inquire. In the awkward silence, eNeMeE's face shifted a bit, he smacked his lips and then it went back to a confident smile.

    "I think I should go investigate."

    eNeMeE announced, shooting underneath the library door against. There was hardly a squeak from Sword or Blade before Meta Knight had slammed into the door once more. This time, the door failed to hold, splintering and breaking in an almost perfectly Meta Knight shaped hole.

    Meta Knight clattered and rolled along the floor, bumping along like he was a tumbleweed once again. He'd tried to recover himself and try to slow the wizard down from going places, before eventually giving in and hoping Yabui (once Meta Knight was given time after this) had copious amounts of scuff and bruising ailment healers that he could steal.

    Meta Knight couldn't well see where he was forcibly being brought, but he did know that he'd knocked through a whole battalion of Waddle Dees right before he was brought into the royal dining room. That, finally, is where he'd been brought to a stop. He steadily rose to his feet, cape a bit roughed but easily smoothed. He'd looked back first, at the Waddle Dees. Amongst the Waddle Dees were Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby, regaining their bearings. The Waddle Dees must've been taking them back to the dungeon.

    "Meta Knight! Susie is trying to execute us!" Tiff reported hastily. 

    Meta Knight shot back around to look at Susie, who was smiling mouthlessly next to a chair-bound writhing Dedede. She'd gotten a new gun since earlier today, he saw, and it was one which she kept pointed at Escargoon so he wouldn't do any funny business. Escargoon had his hands up, surrenduring to ensure she didn't shoot him for fun or whatever.

    "Ah, so glad you could make it, Meta Knight. I would hate for no one to see your dear king's roboticization. I worked plenty on the nanobots that're reconstructing his anatomy to my design."

    Susie smugly and smoothly explained her plan, mockingly caressing Dedede's cheek with her free hand. Dedede had his eyes squeezed shut from the sheer agony he must've been undergoing, sweating up a storm. When he peeked, he looked positively tormented. Both Susie and Dedede were focused on Meta Knight, and not the huge wizard shadow which crept along the wall. Escargoon watched it warily, bug-eyed. He seemed to lock eyes with eNeMeE, and the two shared understanding silence in regards to the situation.

    When eNeMeE arrived at his destination, he came out of the wall. Slowly, making itself into existence from the realm of shadow he'd been trapped in, a pure black skeletal, malnourished hand reached out. Meta Knight stepped back and refocused his attention on eNeMeE. eNeMeE brought himself out slowly, twitchingly. It was as though he were pushing against something invisible. The dark form of himself could barely be contained by air, as drippings of black came off the body he slowly maneuvered into the real world.

    eNeMeE chuckled when his large fangs and hooked nose allowed themselves out. His fangs did not glint, instead they dripped as though he was drooling, hungry for what laid infront of him. Hungry for the torture of the woman he'd thought had wronged him, specifically. The black spots of excess magical goo splattered onto the floor as he leaned into the real world. 

    Susie shot him without looking at him or so much as acknowledging he was there. 

    eNeMeE painfully yelped, part of his head splattering all over the wall as he'd returned to his safer confines. When he'd retreated, the black spots turned into shadows and evaporated. Susie looked nonchalantly at Magolor— who'd since removed the violin from around him. He was stunned, confused, and maybe only very frightened. She'd snapped her fingers to get his attention back on her, rather than what had just transpired.

    "Go get the boat." She'd ordered.

    Magolor looked at Meta Knight, who'd blocked the door. Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby were all right behind him. With a simple spell, Magolor accelerated his speed and shot through the bunch like a rocket. Kirby had grabbed onto his cape, but it hardly slowed him down. It'd only pulled Kirby along with for a small bit before he fell over onto the floor. Holding onto things was a tad bit hard when one had no opposable thumbs.

    Escargoon, with no gun pointed at him anymore, took his opportunity to retreat into the kitchen and away from all the action. In the small interlude eNeMeE had provided, Dedede had also fallen completely limp on his chair. Susie pat his head 'lovingly'.

    "Honey," Susie's soft coo made Dedede's body jolt with electricity, "don't worry. I'll kill the children, the knight, and capture Kirby. You need to do is one thing for me.."

    Dedede sat straight up and nodded. His body folded inside of itself, cracking and shaping himself robotically as he formed a large blaster of white-steel. The sides of it glowed a soft blue, reflecting the ones in her eyes. The transformation ended with the muzzle flared. A soft, relieved exhale that sounded much like Dedede came from the barrel of the large gun. It was much larger than Susie, even. She'd required two hands to pick it up, holstering her old gun inside of.. Somewhere. She put it away.

    "Thank you, honey. You're so useful." 

    She'd complimented, taking aim. The inside of the barrel glowed intensely blue, and before long, a large, ungodly laser shot. The barrel of Susie's gun was glowing so harshly alongside the laser that it provided a sharp lightsource for her, overshadowing her face in the cyan lights. Each shot was like lightning. Susie's aim was impeccable. There was no way to get away from her other than to duck and run. Kirby was more than happy to start running, with Tiff and Tuff following after him. They needed to get out of the narrow hallways of the castle and into the courtyard.

    Meta Knight was cool and did a super epic jump-flip over the laser, awesomely dodging it to explode on the wall and door frame behind him.

    He would deal with her. eNeMeE seemingly had given all the attempts he had, and he was nursing himself and being useless. Not that Meta Knight expected or wanted his help, it just would've made the fight begrudgingly easier. 

    Susie's gun was remarkably quick to charge and fire, the onslaught began and the knight had to essentially start running. He had to get rid of Susie's gun somehow. So, as he ran, he charged up a sword beam. He'd dodged left and right, leaping off the walls even sometimes to dodge them. Even one hit, he was sure, would put him out commission.

    When he fired a sword beam against her laser, the sword beam sliced the laser directly in two and continued swiftly towards Susie. She was smart enough to move like, two inches out of the way, completely dodging the destructiveness of the beam. In the process, Meta Knight had sliced the dining table in half, food and drinks splattering and crashing loudly.

    "Honey, get the Waddle Dees." Susie stated.

    "Waddle Dees! Get them kids and this traitor knight!" 

    The king's voice echoed from the gun. It sounded compressed, as though he'd been fully digitized and his voice was nothing more than audio files meant to be played when Susie so pleased. Waddle Dees piled into the room, running to go and restrain Meta Knight. He'd kicked them out of the way, holding Galaxia above their heads as to make sure he didn't cut them.

    Meta kicked and shoved the best he could as he watched Susie take aim once more. She even closed in, her smugness continuing. eNeMeE had finally recovered, and was taking a nice long look at what was going on. Meta Knight jumped out of the way of her closer ranged shot, her shadow displaying itself briefly near to eNeMeE as the laser shot and exploded. 

    Waddle Dees collided against walls and floors, burnt and bruised, but otherwise okay and obedient, trying to get Meta Knight to stay still. Meta Knight was brought underneath piles of dees, but he still managed to worm out and continue running. 

    "I love how you struggle, Meta Knight. It's so much more satisfying than just putting you in the guillotine I'm going to be setting up for those pesky brats."

    Susie remarked before shooting once again, and missing once again. All the running, the dodging, it was taking a toll on him. He'd ran around so much today, and he was mentally exhausted from all the drama that'd happened within the past couple of hours. If there was a place he could potentially die, it was here. But he steeled himself, he'd had faith in himself to not die.

    No one, not even eNeMeE, was going to kill him.

    "Hey you bucket of bolts!" Escargoon cried from the kitchen doorway— which was remarkably still intact.

    Susie didn't look at him, and maybe that was part of the reason why she got a frying pan to the back of the head. Alongside many, many other kitchen utensils and tools that Escargoon had chucked at her. Each one echoed around the room with a clang, but none of them affected her attention on Meta Knight. At least, they didn't for a while, until she'd eventually snapped and turned her gun on Escargoon, who'd startled and screamed as soon as he was given any sort of threat. 

    She'd shot at him, and he'd ducked into his shell. The laser grazed over the green shell and headed straight into the oven (which was covered in grease), causing an explosion which flung Escargoon out of the kitchen by sheer velocity, ricochet around the dining room, hit the chandelier down, then go straight out the door. All the dees were in a ruckus, now rightfully panicking. Some diverted from their orders to try and put out the grease fire by hurriedly getting water and throwing it on, but they'd only added to the fire. Plumes of fire shot out of the kitchen and crept into the dining room.

    The fire from the kitchen draped the room in harsh shadows.

    Meta Knight took his opportunity to charge Susie in the chaos, and she pistolwhipped him for his idiotic attempt. The dees surrounded Meta Knight, some a bit charred, others bruised, but they surrounded him once more. They dogpiled on him. 

    "There's nothing that you can do, Meta Knight. Just surrender, really. You won't have to struggle anymore, and you most certainly won't have to worry about me anymore. You'll be dead, after all. Wouldn't that be nice? Don't you want to die, and go find your old war friends?" 

    "Not particularly," Meta Knight was muffled by Waddle Dees, "and if I'm dying, it won't be to you."

    "Who would it be, then?" Susie fired up her gun once more, just about ready to shoot.

    "Um, me, stupid!" eNeMeE chirped.

    eNeMeE, capable of grabbing the shadow of the gun, ripped it out of Susie's hands while he was still wallbound. The gun shot off anyways, coliding and shaking the bricks, but it'd missed its target. This would've been an issue for Susie if she didn't have floating hands and also a floating body, but she did. Susie at first went to chase her floating gun around as eNeMeE played his game of keepaway. 

    Then, she stopped, reapproached Meta Knight, got out her old gun, moved some Waddle Dees out of the way so she could see Meta Knight's skin, and fired it point blank.

    It's not like she'd shot a bullet (how rudimentary), she'd shot some high-speed small bullet of pure energy. It'd absorbed into his mask and electrocuted him, causing him to spasm and almost black out. 

    He'd huffed and wheezed, yellow eyes darkening as he'd felt his strength fleeting. Each bullet shot into the mask was another round of shocks and torment. The Waddle Dees shuffled off of him, blinking obliviously as to what was going on between their queen and the traitor knight. She giggled before the knight's lament, seeing him helpless to her technology. He'd hardly been able to move.

    Then, he'd fainted.

    The Big Gun that was in the air twirled as eNeMeE tried to figure out how the heck a gun worked. Each passing second, he was getting upstaged by Susie. He might lose Meta Knight to this stupid pink haired milk drinking twit. Overcome with frustration, he'd just bashed her head with the gun muzzle. She'd toppled to the floor, the smaller gun flying out of her hand as she'd tried to keep King Dedegun away from her. 

    eNeMeE was much too strong and much too angry to keep back, though, as he'd just bashed her over and over. Parts of her face and hair were starting to splinter and dent respectively. She'd realized she couldn't fight this guy fairly quickly. At least, not without (in some capacity) destroying the gun she'd worked so hard to design and create. Which she very much didn't want, but it was a life or death situation now. 

    "You're never going to see the light of day again! You'll die here, broken! How dare you try to kill-steal from me! Who do you think you are!? Meta Knight is mine to kill! He's mine!"

    eNeMeE's psychotic ranting kicked up later than usual as he wickedly bashed Susie's head in. She was putting up as much fight as possible to ensure it wouldn't happen, rolling around and trying to hide or escape. However, she was still getting hit, and her trusty pistol had been removed from her hand.

    "No one else gets to ill him but me, no one else gets to torture him but me! I'm the lord of darkness, the emperor of evil, the purveyor of fear!"

    Susie wasn't scared of him. She hadn't the capacity nor willingness to be scared of such a meaningless threat or creature such as the war wizard. Susie found sanctuary from the gun's bashing when she'd hidden under the debris of the broken dining table. It slapped and smacked against the wood threateningly and harshly.

    "No one, NO ONE is going to take what's mine from me! And this kill, this man is mine to kill! Mine! MINE!"

    "Ah, eNeMeE, you must be very jealous that I tortured him. Aw, boo hoo. Maybe if you weren't such a pathetic coward of a CEO like my father was, you could've kill him a while ago. Maybe if you were even a quarter as smart as I am, you would develop a half effective plan to do so. But oh no, you just sat around and did nothing. You're a cowardly old man, and one day I'll develop the technology to put you in your place. If you even get such the honorable chance to work for me, you'll actually be useful for once in your life."

    "I'll strangle you before you even leave this room." eNeMeE hissed.

    "I have no neck, you savage peasant."

    " **PEASANT**?!"

    The gun cracked the wood behind her, the muzzle pushing through the wood. She just needed it a bit closer. A bit more through.

    "You're a peasant and a weakling," she'd continued, "I shot you once and you cried like a baby. You're hardly even a threat."

    "YOU WOULDN'T KNOW A THREAT IF IT STABBED YOU THROUGH THE EYE."

    The gun busted through more of the table, getting faster. Once more than the muzzle was through, she'd grabbed hold of it, and with a mighty tug, pulled the rest of the big huge rifle through and regained control of it. eNeMeE screeched in frustration, and she felt the table behind her get tossed. She quickly fled from the scene, retreating out the door with the gun she held to trying to get thrown out of her grip. She'd held tight and had braced for it. What she didn't expect was her hair to be pulled, which kept her from keeping on. She'd twisted around in the invisible grip and shot directly at Meta Knight.

    eNeMeE gasped and but held tight to her hair as he'd forcefully dragged Meta Knight away from the explosion. He'd scraped across the floor. With eNeMeE's guard protecting Meta Knight, bracing for another shot to Meta Knight, and indeed, Susie kept at the unconscious knight as her target. A real legitimate game of keepaway, and one where Susie had no choice but to play. 

    Until she was brought back far enough into the room wherein eNeMeE could throw her into the grease fire still going on in the kitchen, that is. She'd hurdled straight into the kitchen and its devastating flames like a pile of rocks.

    "There, that'll do you in." 

    eNeMeE remarked, satsified as the flames englufed the vision of Susie. She was completely gone. He couldn't see her. Like, legitimately, she'd disappeared. Then, from inside the crackles, he'd heard an explosion. He didn't need to do any investigating, Susie was most certainly dead. He had no doubt about it, she was one hundred percent dead and not coming back. He was that strong and that good at killing people that she didn't even scream to death. 

    "Alright, stop being dramatic," eNeMeE tugged Meta Knight across the floor, "get up. We've got her friend to get rid of now."

    Meta Knight was unconscious, and maybe it was better for him that he was. That way he couldn't listen to eNeMeE's awful voice.


End file.
